Magic the Gathering Basics Part 1: Obtaining the Cards and What to do with em

I've thought about turning this into a series of posts in general and i think this is the best option of the two really, in this series i intend to focus on the key basics for getting started in the world of magic the gathering, including deck construction, price guides, articles to read and a basic how to be good at the game. For this article i'll focus on the very beginning aspects, how to get the cards and where to go, then i'll be going over the what to do with them aspect of the game, next article i'll focus on the more unique aspects including how to play, casting costs and abilites.

So your probably new to the game and have no idea of what the hell magic the gathering is coming into this article, let's begin magic the gathering is a collectable card game designed by wizards of the coast and has been around for about 15 years now, i myself have been in the game for a good 7 or 8 at this point no one really knows anymore so enough about that and let's move on. You are probably wondering how to obtain the cards, well most collectable shops such as your local hobby store, conveneice store and even online retailers have these cards and carry them for a select price, some of the more known online retailers including Blackborder.com, Channelfireball.com and Starcitygames.com, for most though it will be your local hobby store/retail store in your local area. for a price you can pick up a pack or two, but to build these days you'll need most of a set or two depending on what you want, with sets varying from core sets to sets that come out during the fall season. For those new players it is best to try and get started with having lots saved up as this game does not come cheap mind you, for a good deck these days it costs in the range of about 100-300 dollars and that is all getting it via singles and that, which is the cheaper method for collecting since you don't need to go out and buy the ridicilous priced booster boxes for the specific sets hoping to get only 1 or 2 of the rare cards you need, though most booster boxes even give out a full 4 of specific cards in most cases.

Now that you have the cards your looking for your wondering what to do with em, well you'll need lands to go along with these cards and trust me having lots of land is crucial to even begin to build decks these days, with lands coming in all shapes and sizes including that of rares, uncommons and commons in which i'll explain the rarities in another article since of course that is a different subject entirely. Basic lands are the best option to start with as all packs end up giving you a basic land to start so you'll never run out and they are cheap to get these days at a mere 10 cents per land, there are five different types of basics for the game, Forest, Mountain, Island, Swamp and Plains and i'll go over the basic land types as expected

Forests represent the green lush landscapes and are used to cast green spells in the game, with mana costs that are high but are easy to obtain later on in the game, the green land base also produces some very large power creatures and beings of all shapes and sizes from elves to even massive elephants and tiny snakes, this is perhaps the easiest land type to get used to. Mountains are fiery and fierce with lava and liquid hot magma flowing around the landscape the most ravage and destructive of the 5 landscapes personally, these house the goblins and berserker type of creatures known as the Vulshok which are a savage humanoid race living in caves. Islands are home to the sea's creatures, Merfolk and the like reside here with wisdom and grace and cunning, the seas's power gives way to knowledge and understanding as well as very smart beings including a certain planeswalker. Swamps are very muck filled and are home to the dead, vampires, zombies and all the expect creatures out of a halloween scary story reside here with the rotting corpses of dead animals and the dying trees, not a friendly place to be if your not wanting to be there. Plains are home to the land animals whom are noble and care for the world, these particular beings are filled with law and order and appease the natural balance of the world and are known as the lawgivers of the worlds they live in, wise and yet gentle the landscape is a pure field of longevitity.

This covers the basic land types and what to expect in the game, next article i'll go over the how to's and what abilites the game produces including that of some evergreen keywords we are mostly familar with if you have been in the game for a good deal of time these days, till next article this is vergil signing off.